Portable crane



July 25, R T BOWLING PORTABLE CRANE Filed Feb. 2, 1932 5 Sheets-Sheet 1Inventor A 0DR7 7: 50w m5 By W x v I A orney July 25,1933. R T- BQWLING1,919,823

PORTABLE CRANE Filed Feb. 2, 1932 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 1 7021507 Z Bum/H5Inventor Attorney 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 a m w d a m m & 2 w 1n m z y x nQUEER? ZBDWLl/YE R. T. BOWLING PORTABLE CRANE Filed Feb. 2, 1932' July25, 1933. R BOWUNG 1,919,823

PORTABLE CRANE Filed Feb. 1932 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 A 055? 7' 7: Ba WLl/YEIn uentor Altorney Fatented July 25, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEROBERT (LR-BOWLING, or LEWISTON, iDAI-IO, Assieiion 'ro POTLATGI-Iroims'rs, INC.,

- or LEWISTON, IDAHO PORTABLE on i vn Application filed' February2,1932. Serial No. 590,383. I

My present invention relates to an improved portable crane of therailway type, employing a crane and screw operated hoist or elevator ofthe sling type, and the subject matter of the present invention formspart of the lumber piling implement shown and described in my co-pendingapplication for patent Serial Number 544,438 filed June 15, 1931. Y r

While the implement of which my present application forms a part may beemployed for transferring various materials, the crane is particularlydesigned for use in lumber plants, where the crane is conveyed about theplant or yard on railway trucks traveling on narrow gage tracks. In theutilization of the improved crane two tracks are employed, one for thecrane and the other for the dolly or truck o'n which the lumber in pilesis .conveyed to and from kilns, storage sheds, the saw-mill, and otherlocations, and the portable crane may be moved from place to place onits track for various operations. While I have illustrated the crane asbuilding up a lumber stack from piles that are conveyed on successivedollies to the crane, it will of course be understood that various otheroperations may be carried out in the handling or transferring of lumberand other materials, by means of the improved crane.

The lumber is handled in bundles, packages or piles, in the sling of theelevator or hoist, and consequently this handling of the material inlarge bulks can be accomplished with a substantial saving inmaterial,-time, labor, and expense.

My invention consists in certain novel combinations and arrangements ofparts in the crane whereby the latter 'may with facility make the sharpcurves of the railway tracks when being moved from place to place in thelumber yard or plant; in the construction and operation of the screwoperated hoist or elevator; and in other associations of parts,rendering the implement facile in its control, and smooth in itsoperations of transferring heavy, bulky loads.

The operating parts are supplied with power.

to electric motors on the implement from supply stations located atintervals along the tracks of the system, and in addition to the man onthe implement in control of the operating mechanism, two men areemployed for handling the lumber as it is arranged in the sling, guidingthe load while in the sling,'and depositing the load, either in a Istack, or for loading a pile from a stack to a dolly.

Figure 1 is a view of the implement complete, showing by dotted lines,the crane standing by astack and over a dolly, and in full lines showingthe crane at the opposite side of the implement and in position todeposit its load of lumber in the erection of a stack.

Figure 2 is a side view of the implement showing the crane with a loadin its sling, indicating by dotted lines how the load may be turned withits swivel-sling, and showing also piles that have been deposited in theerection of a stack.

Figure 3 is an enlarged, detail sectional view at the upper end of oneof the two operating screws for the hoist or elevator.

Figure 4 is a detail sectional view of one of the vertically movingguides for the crane and showing the relation of the operating screwthereto. I v Figure 5 is a transverse, horizontal, sectional view online 55 of Fig. 2 of one of the masts of the crane, showing also anoperating screw in its relation thereto.

" Figure 6 is a detail top plan view atone end of the braced beam of thecrane, showing by dotted lines the relative movement in a horizontalplane between the supporting beam of the crane and its upright masts andscrews.

Figure 7 is a plan View showing two parallel tracks at a curve with theimplement traveling on one track, and indicating the articulationbetween the crane beam'and its masts to permit turning of curves in therailway system or tracka-ge.

Figure 8 is an enlarged detail elevation showing the propulsionmechanism for the crane and the screw operating mechanism for the hoist,and Figure 9 is a top plan view of these mechanisms showing the tower insection as at line'99 of Figure 8.

In Figure 1 the pile of lumber A has been lifted from the dolly D, andthe successive piles, lifted from successive dollies, are stacked asindicated in Figure 2, the portable crane of my invention travelingalternately to the right and left in Figure 1 for transferring thesuccessive loads.

The lumber yard is equipped with a narrow gage railway system comprisingparal lel tracks as 1, 2, for the implement, and 3, 4, for dolly, andboth the implement and the dollies may be driven or hauled by electricmotors from station to station in the yard or plant.

The portable implement is supported upon two spaced, four-wheel trucks 5and 6, with their wheels 7 rolling on the rails 12 or 3-4 of theparallel tracks of the railway system, and the trucks are coupled bymeans of a bar or link 8, with couplings at 9, 9, to the respectivetrucks.

. Upon each truck 5 and 6, is mounted a tower, as 14, 15, which form theuprights of the portable crane, and the crane travels transversely ofthe railway tracks on sup porting rail-sections 10 fixed transversely ofthe trucks, and also upon pairs of hinged, foldable rail sections 11 and12 mounted on the trucks at opposite sides thereof and adapted to besupported by a number of jacks 13. The rail sections 10 fixed to thetrucks, and the lateral foldable sections 11 and 12 thus form a pair ofsupporting rails one for each tower of the crane, and the crane as aunit is adapted to travel back and forth on these spaced parallel railsorvv tracks.

Each tower 14, 15, is constructed of channel beams 16 and 17 andfabricated metal, and as indicated in Figure 1 the towers taper towardtheir upper ends, with a central vertical I-beam 18 rigidly secured ineach tower and with the adjoining flanges 19 of the beams projectingslightly from the inner sides of the towers, as best seen in Figure 5.

At its base, each tower is provided with a pair of spaced, groovedrollers or Wheels 20 to roll on the rails 10, 11, 12, and to provide awide bearing for supporting the towers on the rails, and between the twocrane-towers a screw operated hoist is mounted for raising and loweringa load.

The screw operated hoist includes a horizontal beam 21 that spans thespace between the two masts 18, 18, of the towers, and at its ends thebeam is provided with bearing bosses 22 having smooth bores thatsurround, but do not operatively engage the threads of a pair ofoperating screw bars 23 and 24. These screw bars are vertically arrangedparallel with the masts, and they are supported at their lower ends torevolve in bearings 25 rigid with the respective trucks 5 and 6. Attheir upper ends, as shown in Figure 3 the screw bars have smoothbearings journ aled at 26 in the overhanging bearing brackets 27 rigidlyattached at the tops of the two masts or towers.

Roller bearings 28 and bearing collars 29 for the screws are mountedabove thebrackets, and the bearings are seated on the brackets by meansof the dished concave plate 30 and the convex bearing plate 31, toinsure proper alinement for the bearings. A look nut 32 on the screw anda cotter pin 33 are employed for preventing displacement of parts, andthe bearing is capped by a housing as 34 for usual protective functions.

In its vertical movement the hoist is raised by the screws and guided bymeans of vertically spaced guide blocks 35 and 36, one pair of blocksfor each screw and its complementary mast. These tubular guide blockshave smooth bores surrounding the screws, and screw threaded travelingnuts 37 are mounted in the blocks for engagement with the screws, asbest seen in Figure 4. As best seen in Figure 2 the upper slide blocks36 support the beam 21 and the bosses 22 at the ends of the beam restupon the guide blocks or slide blocks. The lower guide blocks 35 areprovided with bushings 23 which are rigidly connected to the beam bydiagonal braces or triangular yokes 23a fixed to the beam.

As best seen in Figure 5 each guide block is fashioned with a pair ofguide flanges or flanged plates 38 secured by bolts 38 at opposite sidesof the web of a mast, and overlapping the inner flange 19 of the mast toform a guide groove at each edge thereof to guide the vertical movementof the guide block.

In Figures 8 and 9 it will be seen that each screw 23, 24, is drivenfrom an electric motor 39 mounted in a suitable frame at the base of thetower, and by means of the chain drive 39 to the shaft 40, power istransmitted through the driving chain 41 to the reduced sprocket gear 42on the lower end of the screw. The electric motor 38 is of thereversible type, and is controlled to revolve the screw in alternatelyopposite directions for raising or lowering the hoist.

The two operating screws are turned in unison, and the elevator hoist,through the instrumentality of the traveling nuts 37 on the operatingscrews, will be positively lifted, or lowered by action of gravity.

Figures Sand 9 also show the operating means for propelling the crane onits tracks 10, 11, 12, from a reversible electric motor 43 mounted on aframe at the base of the tower. Each tower has a driving mechanism, andthe motor transmits power through the chain drive 44 to the worm gear 45shown in dotted lines as enclosed in the housing or gear box 46, and anoperating shaft 47 transmits power through the two chain drives 48 and49 to the sprockets 50, 50 on the shafts 51 of the wheels or rollers 20of the towers.

The beam 21 of the hoist, supports a traveling, swiveled, sling in whichthe pile A is ably carried, and the beam is preferably made up ofchannel irons, suitably joined and braced, and provided with exteriorhorizontal flanges 52 upon which the rollers or wheels 53 (two at eachside of the beam 21) of the sling-carriage 54, may travel or roll,

as the sling, with its load is guided manuall 2i swivel head 55 issupported at the underside of the carriage 54, and the swivel bar 56 ofthe sling is mounted to turn on the head. Two pairs of sling-links 57one pair at each side of the pile A, are suspended by hooks 58 of theswivel bar, and at their lower ends, beneath the pile A, these links arejoined by cross bars 59, spaced apart, and provided with end hooks 60for detachable connection with the sling links. I

Before the pile A is lifted by the crane, the cross bars 59 are placedin position beneath the pile, and while the pile is supported on thedolly D in Figurel. In manipulating. the sling, the two pairs of links57 having been suspended from the swivel-bar 56, are hooked to theprojecting ends of the cross bars 59, after which the crane and its loadmay be raised to position of Figures 1 and2.

The load or pile may be shifted with the carriage longitudinally of thebeam 21, and the pile may be turned to desired position as indicated bydotted lines in Figure 2,

through the instrumentality of the swivel bar 56 and the swivel head 55,these movements being accomplished manually.

One of the trucks is provided with a control platform 61 to accommodatethe control man, who stands in position where he has ready access to thecontrol board 61. Suitsions of the two fixed rail sections 10, inn

order that the traveling crane may run out at either side of the trucks.

When the implement is to be towed or hauled over the tracks 1, 2, or 3,4, the crane is moved to position on the fixed rails 10 of thetwotrucks, and centered or balanced over these two trucks, with thehinged sections 11 and 12 folded against the opposite sides of the twotowers. It will be apparent that the articulated or coupled trucks, andthe pivotal arrangement of the crane at 22 and 35 with the screws,permit the implement to turn curves in the railway, as indicated inFigure 7, and by dotted lines in Figure 6, the two trucks being flexiblein their coupling connection, and the crane having a swiveled support bymeans of the bearings 35 and 36 on the two screws 23 and 24.

The towers and masts provide a stable support for. the hoist, when thelatter is bea ing reciprocated vertically, and the beam 21 and its endbraces39 provide an adequate joining member between the two masts ortowers to hold together the towers, while the coupling bar or line 8also joins the trucks of the crane, V

' The braces 39, which may be welded to .the beam 21, and which at theirlower ends are joined with the bushings 23, strengthen the hoist, andprovide bearings that are spaced from the bearings 36, to insurestability in the relation between the beam and,

the screws.

While I have shown and described one exemplification of the portablecrane, and illustrated its use in removing piles of lumber from thedollies and erecting stacks of lumber from these successive piles, itwill be apparent that various other operations of the services ofthreemen, one on the control platform 61, another to fasten the slingabout the pile of lumber, and the third man with a pair of spaced,articulated trucks,

and a fixed, transversely disposed track on each truck, of a wheeledtower supported on each truck and propelling means for each tower, ascrew mounted on each tower and separate means for turning the screws, avertically' reciprocable hoist, and guides rigid with the hoist and indriving relation to said screws, for said hoist.

2. In an articulated portable crane of the railway type, the combinationwith a pair of towers, and masts rigid with the towers, of screwsmounted on the towers a hoist disposed between said screws, guide meansmounted at the ends of the hoist for nonthreaded co-action with thescrews, a pair of guide blocks mounted on the screws and rigidlyconnected with the hoist, a second pair of guide blocks on the screwsloosely supporting the hoist, traveling nuts mounted in said pairs ofguide blocks and engaging the screws, and guide flanges on said mastsfor said blocks. 1

3. In a portable lumber piler, the combination with spaced portablesupports, and a fixed transversely disposed track-rail rigid with eachsupport, of a self-propelled .wheeled tower mounted on each track-rail,

, ROBERT T. BOWLING.

86 the crane may be accomplished,usually by I

